Every country has developed, formulated, and decreed national policies related to rural advisory services. Find some examples here. If you are looking for a national policy from a specific country, please use the search function, selecting the category “National policies” and the tag for the country.
The FFS group in Rumonge had just started holding regular meeting sessions, facilitated by a female facilitator trained in the Ngozi TOF. Field activities so far had included establishment of a nursery for vegetables (cabbage, tomatoes, eggplant, amaranths, onion etc.). The group has access to two plots, one right on the shore of a river close to the resident area of members, and another plot on the prison owned land close to the lake shore. Tomatoes production was planned to form the groups learning enterprise, and experimental plots were to be established the following week. The group had a formal structure in place with group officials and FFS sub-groups (all with names and slogans). A majority of members were women and considered vulnerable due to poverty or health status. The group meets weekly on Wednesdays for FFS learning sessions.
Singing the Same Song: Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture Messages in Zambia
Written by Ingrid OliveiraZambia has experienced more than a decade of robust economic growth and stable maize production, yet food and nutrition security has not improved significantly. Over 40% of children under five are stunted (Central Statistical Office, 2015) and 48% of the population is undernourished (FAO/IFAD/WFP 2015). Growing evidence suggests that this seeming paradox may be associated with an overemphasis on production and consumption of the staple crop, maize: roughly 51% of cultivated land is committed to maize, which constitutes 57% of the national diet.
Feeding the Five Thousand: How Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools are bridging the nutritional gap in Kakuma
Written by Ingrid Oliveira“In the last three months, the children have made over ten thousand shillings from the sale of kales, brinjals, spinach, tomatoes, capsicum and carrots to the neighbouring communities. Besides, the school has also been using the same plots to feed the children themselves”, says a proud Ekal Lochi. A teacher at Kalobeyei Boarding Primary School, Mr. Lochi, who is also the JFFLS facilitator at the school, proudly displays the children’s own farm records of the returns of their farming efforts at the school. The profits, he explains, are used for their upkeep in case of sickness and to pay for examinations.
Mainstreaming Nutrition into Agricultural Extension
Written by Ingrid OliveiraLessons Learned from Two Projects that Integrated Agricultural Interventions and Nutrition in Bangladesh
Food and nutrition security exists when all people are able to consume food in both sufficient quantity and quality to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, and they are supported by an environment with adequate sanitation, health services and care, allowing for a healthy and active life (FAO, 1996). Agriculture1 is fundamental to this widely held definition of food and nutrition security. Approximately half of the people of Bangladesh depend on agriculture for their livelihoods as a source of income. Two-thirds of them are women farmers. Most agricultural producers also purchase foods to supplement their home production (GoB, 2011). Despite high level of economic growth in recent years, malnutrition persists in many countries of the South Asian Region. Bangladesh has achieved significant economic growth and poverty reduction, yet continues to battle some of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world (World Bank, 2011). To improve the nutritional status of affected persons in Bangladesh, nutrition specific interventions such as Vitamin A supplementation, food supplementation, and immunization programmes have been in place for many years. Unfortunately, little focus has been placed on the broader resolutions of nutrition through agriculture (including horticulture, fisheries and animal husbandry) that play an important role in reducing undernutrition through food-based approaches as nutrition-sensitive interventions.
Women in Post-harvest Activities: Understanding their Health and Nutrition Behaviour
Written by Ingrid OliveiraBangladesh is a country with mainly paddy-based agriculture, which has managed to triple its rice production since independence in 1971, from 10 million metric tons to over 33.83 million metric tons (Krishi Dairy in Khatun, 2015). 76% of the country’s people live in the rural areas and 90% of them have livelihoods directly related to agriculture (Dev et al., 2014). From this perspective, rural women’s participation in post-harvest activities are one of the most important contributions in agricultural production in Bangladesh. However, in traditional Bangladeshi context, post-harvest work is simply seen as part of women’s household responsibilities; in other words, this work has little monetary value or social recognition. Though this scenario has been changing due to the new technological intervention and frequent market affiliation with rice production and processing, nowadays many women are working in mills (usually called rice mills) as cheap and conventional labour for their livelihood. In this aspect, the aim of this study is to explore the health and nutritional behaviour of rice mill women workers in Narina Union of Shahjadpur.
Engendering Agricultural Extension Services and Agricultural Marketing:
Written by Ingrid OliveiraPromoting Female Headed Households Farmers’ Economic Empowerment for Securing Nutrition
The objective of this research is to incorporate women in extension services to enhance their economic empowerment to secure nutrition in their households. This study was carried out in Manikganj district with the help of Karmojibi Nari. The information was collected from women farmers of FHH, Government extension service officer, Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC) and Karmojibi Nari staff members, the chairman and another member of Manikganj Chamber of Commerce, and a group of community men. We used the in-depth interview method and Focus Group Discussion method as qualitative tools to collect data from the different target groups.
The purpose of this activity was to analyze the ability of Farmer Field Schools (Escuelas de Campo) to integrate gender and nutrition into agricultural extension programs and assess the current status of the Agricultural Extension System (AES) in Honduras. This research directly contributes to the vision of the Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES) initiative by informing project partners and local stakeholders on the potential of Escuelas de Campo as a platform for introducing gender and nutrition integration into agricultural extension programs.
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Surrounding Nutrition among Extension Institutions and Their Beneficiaries in Honduras
Written by Ingrid OliveiraIn Honduras, women face high rates of discrimination and lack equal access to resources and services as compared to men. Gender inequality is intimately linked to nutrition, poverty, and agriculture, and all four issues often reinforce one another. For example, greater gaps in gender equality are associated with higher rates of malnutrition. When individuals have poor nutrition, their health and ability to work are affected, leading to lower incomes and reinforcement of poverty. These associations have serious implications on the local and national economy and human rights.
Infusing Agricultural Extension with Nutrition and Gender-sensitive Messages
Written by Ingrid OliveiraA Needs Assessment Report from a Communications Perspective, based on Field Work in Bangladesh
Dr. Lulu Rodriguez and Lea Peck of the University of Illinois’ Agricultural Communications Program were asked to join an interdisciplinary team of students, faculty members and staff of two other universities that visited Bangladesh on behalf of the Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Services (INGENAES) project.
INGENAES’ mandate is to assist USAID’s Feed the Future missions to strengthen gender and nutrition integration within agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS). Its stated objectives are (1) to build robust nutrition-oriented institutions, projects and programs capable of assessing and responding to the nutrition needs of farmers and farm families; (2) identify, test the efficacy, and strengthen proven mechanisms for delivering improved EAS to women farmers; (3) disseminate gender-appropriate and nutrition-enhancing technologies and access to inputs to improve women’s agricultural productivity and enhance household nutrition; and (4) apply effective extension approaches and tools to enhance the nutritional status especially of those who reside in rural areas.
Men’s Perceptions of Their Roles and Involvement in Household Decisions around Food in Rural Bangladesh
Written by Ingrid OliveiraINGENAES Case Study
Households include a number of decision-makers who hold varying beliefs about how family members should be involved with food—its purchase, preparation, distribution, consump-tion, and marketing. Households are complex and dynamic systems, involving gender and generational roles influenced by tradition, culture, circumstances, and historical changes. Taking on a household lens is compatible with a systems’ perspective on agricultural develop-ment, such as an agricultural innovation systems framework that incorporates “all the actors in the system and their interactions”, as well as institutions and policies that impact the system and its innovations.
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The Farmer Field School Approach – History, Global Assessment and Success Stories
Written by Ingrid OliveiraThis section discusses the history of the farmer field school approach, including origin and emergence, characteristics and evolution of the approach, and the current global status.
Improved Nutrition Through Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services
Written by Ingrid OliveiraCase Studies of Curriculum Review and Operational Lessons From India
Even after several decades of green revolution, malnutrition continues to be a major development challenge in much of South Asia, and India has a major share of the malnourished people in the region. The nutritional issues in India are complex and therefore require a multifaceted, multidisciplinary solution. One facet of the solution is increasing knowledge about the causes of and solutions to malnutrition at the farm household level through agricultural extension. Disseminating nutrition-sensitive agricultural knowledge is not currently an activity of agricultural extension in India, but there is great potential for integrating it through the well-established network of extension offi cers. For nutrition goals to be integrated into extension, the curricula provided to current and future agricultural extension agents must be revisited. As part of the South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI), this paper focuses on approaches to incorporating such nutrition content into the agricultural extension curriculum.
Three state agricultural universities in Tamil Nadu, united Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar were used as case studies for the curriculum review. Through these case studies, face-to-face consultations at the national level down to program implementation at the village level have been developed. These include consultative workshops, and a conceptual framework and strategy for incorporating nutrition into extension curriculum development to improve nutrition outcomes. This strategy, detailed in this report, includes opportunities for collaboration from the national level to the community level. Specifi c lessons and follow-up actions are outlined that may be useful for other South Asian countries.
INGENAES Tip Sheet
In many Latin American countries, coffee is considered one of the top export crops. Many rural families use coffee sales as a significant source of income, and in Honduras coffee production is around 26 percent of the 60 percent of total agricultural production (FAO, 2015). Coffee is an ideal crop for Honduras as there is limited arable land that is suitable for other types of agriculture, and it can be grown in the mountains. However, one of the challenges associated with coffee production is how the income that is generated from the sales is used to benefit the household. This activity sheet explores how income from coffee sales might be used to improve overall family nutrition.
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INGENAES Material Informativo
En muchos países latinoamericanos, el café es considerado uno de los principales cultivos de exportación. Muchas familias rurales utilizan las ganancias obtenidas de la venta de café como una fuente importante de ingresos. En Honduras la producción de café se calcula que es el 26% del 60% de la producción agrícola total (FAO, 2015). El café es un cultivo ideal para Honduras, ya que existen pocas tierras arables adecuadas para otros tipos de agricultura y además, se puede cultivar en las montañas. Sin embargo, uno de los retos asociados con la producción de café es la distribución del ingreso generado por la venta del café y como este, se utiliza para beneficio del hogar.
Esta hoja de actividades explora cómo los ingresos de la venta de café pueden ser utilizados para mejorar la nutrición de la familia.
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